Stockholm 2008: Day 2

After a good night’s sleep and a not-too early start, we bought 3-day transit passes and headed into the center of Stockholm on the subway. We got off at Kungsträdgården and walked around a bit in that area and along the waterfront.

Hannah tried out being a Viking.



It was a bit windy, so Hannah took the opportunity to “parachute” by catching some wind with her jacket.



Then we headed over to the Historiska Museet (historical museum), just in time for it to start raining.



We didn’t make it there the other time we were in Stockholm, and John wanted to see their exhibit on Vikings. He wasn’t disappointed.



Hannah was surprisingly patient, I guess because she knew that we’d be heading to Gröna Lund (amusement park) next and that they don’t even open until noon. I left John and Hannah with the Vikings and looked around upstairs in the Medieval and Baroque areas, but I wasn’t that impressed. I guess I have lost the taste for looted churches; it felt like a crypt in there.

Hannah came and found me and we tried the Gold Room next. As the name implies, it was a room full of golden artifacts. Hannah really liked it and even read some of the signs on the displays. There was a video running in a side room, but she declared that bo-ring, so she mostly stuck by me. By the time John made it to the Gold Room, we had looked at every coin and read every sign and were ready to try something else.

Something else was the temporary exhibit for children on bread.



There were a ton of bread-items made out of felt on display, the most delectable of which was this “cake”.



After buying a few things in the gift shop, we were finally ready to be amused. We hopped on the historical tram over to the island of Djurgården for an afternoon of fun at Gröna Lund.



Gröna Lund is basically split into two parts, or as Hannah put it, the baby side and the fun side. We—or more accurately, John and Hannah—bypassed the baby side and went right for the rides, starting with a roller coaster and moving on to this swing carousel.



Then they hit the swinging Viking ship.



Here’s the one that would be more my speed:



And here is the after-effect of the Viking ship:



I like to call this photo “Gonna vom”. I think I neglected to mention that after bypassing the baby side, we ate a greasy amusement park lunch—“Mexican” food for John, “pizza” for Hannah, and a hot dog for me, and yes, the quotation marks are there for a reason—so the mad dash for the rides was poor judgment, in hindsight.

While we waited for the gorge to subside, we amused ourselves by deciding which balloon at the top of this heap it would be most difficult for the vendor to reach, and therefore which balloon we should demand from her.



Despite her queasy stomach, Hannah ran off to the indoor ride behind us rather than face the possibility of being accosted by these costumed freaks.



When asked why she was so afraid of them, she declared that she wasn’t afraid, she just hated them. Oh, ok. She insisted they were mice, while I found them more monkey-like. I think this sign backs me up:



Then John and Hannah climbed the moving stairs to go into the fun house.



They rode the bumper cars, then we headed back over to the bigger rides. Here, we prepare ourselves for the ride that goes through a witch’s house:





They rode a less-vom-inducing version of the Viking ride, the magic carpet ride.



I entertained myself while they were being flung about by watching the ships pass by.



Then while they were on the “blue train” ride, which is sort of a mini-haunted house ride, I checked out the decor visible from the queue:



Wow! That pteradactyl’s enormous breasts sure are scary! If I were her, I would sue my plastic surgeon.



Ah, this is more like it—the toothpick of the damnnnned!

Hannah managed to avoid being accosted by these fluorescent gorillas by being on a ride while they danced by to the annoying tunes of the ghetto-blaster being pushed by the magician? genie? accompanying them.



Here John and Hannah are in the midst of being hoisted up for a spinning, twirling, and generally puke-inducing ride that they had previously dismissed as being too much.





John had to take another time-out after that one.

I finally convinced them to move over to the baby side since the fun side was making them so sick. I coughed up for a single ticket for my all-time favorite ride: teacups!



Then I sent John and Hannah into Pettson and Findus’s house.



They are popular characters in a series of Swedish children’s books.



We wrapped up with a couple of slow, gentle rides, like old-timey cars:



and flying elephants:



This was a common sight in the park:



People were able to trade in their toddlers for chocolate! Ha ha, just kidding. These 2-kilo bars were prizes at the various games of chance. We didn’t bother with them because 1. we’re cheap, 2. we couldn’t carry it on the plane, and 3. we couldn’t eat it in 3 days before getting on the plane.

Then we hopped back on the old-timey tram, where I snuck a photo of this cute little change purse thingy the conductor was wearing. So old-fashioned, so cute!



Then we bought some groceries and went back to the hotel for dinner. The end.